During a chaotic trim, I learned odd shoes suit some horses.

Now I swear by it for spooky ones.

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3 Comments

kelly.robin7mo ago

Honestly I just keep the odd shoes on for a few weeks until they settle down. It's enough time for them to get used to the weird feeling so it stops being a big deal. Then you can go back to normal shoes without losing the calm.

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casey7197mo ago

Yeah it totally works, my old mare would lose her mind over flies but stayed way calmer in mismatched front shoes. Something about the different feel just short circuits that panic response. I wouldn't try it for every issue, but for pure spookiness it's a solid trick.

5

the_diana7mo ago

How long did you keep your mare in that set up? @casey719 that makes so much sense, it's like their brain gets too busy figuring out the new feeling to fully freak out. I had a super reactive gelding who would spin at plastic bags, and my farrier suggested a similar trick with pads on just one side. It wasn't a magic fix for everything, but for those random scary moments, it cut his reaction time in half. It really does seem to reset their focus.

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